The theme for CIRC 2019 is “Digital Cultures: Chinese Internet and Beyond”.

Papers or panel proposals that address the theme directly or broadly are welcome, as are presentations that are related to the economic, political, cultural, or social dimensions of internet use and digital cultures in China, as well as its reverberations beyond China. This means that presenters are encouraged to submit and share their research findings and ideas on the implications of digital cultures that are local, national, transnational, or global to China.

The Conference Theme

As the epitome of digital cultures, the Internet – and its concomitant technological spin-offs such as smartphones and other digital devices – is often attributed as the cause of rapid media, social, cultural and political developments in China. This is true not only in China, it is also true in every location that has embraced the Internet as a way of life.

Amidst the speed of change in the world of Chinese Internet, there is consensus that there has not been sufficient nor sustained scholarly efforts to examine how digital cultures have been impacted, not just in China, but beyond. After all, the Internet is by its very design global, even though it will always seek to maintain at the very least a semblance of national specificity and sovereignty.

To this end, CIRC 2019 proposes to interrogate questions around this theme – including inter alia:

What is the state of the Chinese Internet vis-à-vis the global digital culture?

What new forms of digital cultures have emerged in recent years? Do they replicate old cultural formations or are they new dynamics of communication?

How do digital cultures shape our sense of ‘cultural imaginaries’ or ‘collective consciousness’?

Have local and/or global Chinese identities been shored up or further contested with increased Internet engagement?

Are Chinese diasporic communities challenged or empowered by new forms of digital cultural use? Do they extend and/or accelerate established logics of social interactions, group affiliations, and governance?

How do national development policies on culture and digital innovation (e.g., China’s ‘Internet+’ policy) intersect with local/international efforts for digital collaboration?

What are the manifestation, organization, and efficacy of digitally enabled participatory culture?

How does popular culture interact with digital technologies to shape social relationship, value formation and changes, and collective actions?

What regulatory structures have emerged or leveraged to govern the Internet and digital cultures or the related practices?

How are traditional methods of Internet censorship and other gatekeeping functions relevant to regulating digital cultural use?

There are many other discourses that are worthy of further analyses. We invite contributors to CIRC 2019 to put these issues to the test not only in the Chinese contexts, but also beyond China, and to explore the idea of ‘digital cultures’ through both critical, theoretically-minded research and innovative empirical methods.

Paper and Panel Proposals

Proposals are invited for paper presentations or panels that address one or more of the questions raised above, as well as proposals related more generally to questions concerning the internet in the culturally Chinese world. This may include (but not limited to) topics such as:

The economic and financial aspects of Chinese Internet industry (including the online operation of news media)

The organizational culture and practice of Chinese Internet companies (including the onlne operation of news organizations)

The ethical challenges facing Chinese Internet

Social and political participation in Chinese digital networks, as well as limitations to such participation (e.g. access, digital divides, etc.)

The Organizing Committee will inform applicants of its decision by April 2019. Full versions of the accepted papers are to be submitted by 1 June 2019. Papers should not exceed 8,000 words, including notes and references, and should be sent to the organising committee via email.

Additional Information (preliminary):

Organising Committee:

Assoc Prof Zhang Weiyu (NUS)

Dr Tania Lim (Murdoch University, Singapore)

Assoc Prof Terence Lee (Murdoch University, Australia)

Location: TBD, Singapore

No registration fee for the conference will be required.

Participants will register in advance for the conference dinner [Price TBA].

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